Why should Christ have volunteered to make this sacrifice? What was the motive that inspired and sustained him from the time of that council in heaven until the moment of his agonized cry “It is finished”? (John 19:30.)

The answer to this question is twofold: first, his undeviating devotion to his Father’s will. He said: “. . . My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:34.)

Second was his supernal and all-embracing love for mankind, who, without his mediation, would have remained in the total gloom of desiring without hope throughout eternity.

As the late President Taylor very beautifully and very truthfully said, speaking of the atonement: “Is justice dishonored? No; it is satisfied, the debt is paid. Is righteousness departed from? No; this is a righteous act. All requirements are met. Is judgment violated? No, its demands are fulfilled. Is mercy triumphant? No; she simply claims her own. Justice, judgment, mercy and truth all harmonize as the attributes of Deity. ‘Justice and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’ Justice and judgment triumph as well as mercy and peace;” (The Mediation and Atonement, 1950 edition, p. 167.)

President Hugh B. Brown
General Conference, April, 1962, Third Day – Morning Meeting

Why should Christ have volunteered to make this sacrifice? What was the motive that inspired and sustained him from the time of that council in heaven until the moment of his agonized cry “It is finished”? (John 19:30.)

The answer to this question is twofold: first, his undeviating devotion to his Father’s will. He said: “. . . My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:34.)

Second was his supernal and all-embracing love for mankind, who, without his mediation, would have remained in the total gloom of desiring without hope throughout eternity.

As the late President Taylor very beautifully and very truthfully said, speaking of the atonement: “Is justice dishonored? No; it is satisfied, the debt is paid. Is righteousness departed from? No; this is a righteous act. All requirements are met. Is judgment violated? No, its demands are fulfilled. Is mercy triumphant? No; she simply claims her own. Justice, judgment, mercy and truth all harmonize as the attributes of Deity. ‘Justice and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’ Justice and judgment triumph as well as mercy and peace;” (The Mediation and Atonement, 1950 edition, p. 167.)

President Hugh B. Brown
General Conference, April, 1962, Third Day – Morning Meeting